[Boatanchors] Ebay problems

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 9:26 AM, Carl <km1h at jeremy.mv.com> wrote:

> I had a good friend on the Power Sellers direct hotline in Salt Lake City
> for many years who gave me a lot of inside info. He finally couldnt take the
> outright dishonesty and lies that he was told to tell sellers and being a
> good Mormon finally quit last month in disgust.

To me, this was one ebay's biggest screw ups: being inaccessible to
the users unless they met a specific level of finance that benefitted
ebay so much as to make it worth their while to bother. I can
understand ebay's position with respect to the workers needed, tedious
calls/meritless calls, and whatever else. Unfortunately in business,
you have to deal with the good and the bad, and they chose to cherry
pick in that sense. Telling your little sellers and buyers that they
somehow aren't worthy, don't do enough to matter, etc, turned a lot of
folks off.

I remember having to fax in a copy of my license or some other
documentation years back to verify who I was because ebay's computers
had been hacked and there was a remote possibility (their words) that
my information was at risk, so they locked my account until i
complied. Couldn't reach a human being to confirm or otherwise get
info, and it interfered with several auctions I was watching. As a
result, those sellers never knew I was willing to pay more than what
they got.

> My Ebay experiences since 1998 have been all downhill since around 2002-3.

That seems to be the case for many, Carl. No coincidence that the
'feeding frenzy' seemed to follow the same downward turn. As the ABC
article points out, ebay cleaned out a lot of attics and garages, but
even that has slowed considerably. I believe in no small part due to
the never-ending changes and so-called "improvements" ebay kept
stirring into the mix. There comes a point where the hassle is just
not worth it anymore. I haven't sold anything on there in years as a
result. But then again, I was never so focused on the 'top dollar at
any expense' approach to using ebay as some are. Spend hours of your
time to possibly make a few more dollars, I guess these folks really
figured their time wasn't that valuable.

Add to that having to deal with some incredibly stupid people who
either can't or refuse to read your listing entirely, the hassles and
expenses of shipping (time and transportation along with paying the
difference if your estimate is off), and it became a thought that
seldom crossed my mind anymore. I still use ebay as a tool for finding
things like yard sales, hamfests, and so on, but was never one to live
for it. As a business, it gets harder and harder to justify some
aspects when you've driven many of your sellers off while traffic is
slowing down naturally.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ